Thursday, November 7, 2024

 Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(Philippians 3:3-8; Luke 15:1-10)

In today’s first reading St. Paul oddly writes, “We are the circumcision”.  He means that those who put their faith in Christ have achieved the blessing promised to Abraham’s descendants whom God ordered circumcised. 

Circumcision was a distinguishing mark on Jews that reminded them of their need to be sexually moderate.  It also served as a promise of blessing with God’s protection.  Paul now tells the Philippians that they have received a far greater promise in God’s Son.  Christ will give them victory over death as the final and all-encompassing blessing.

The passage assures us of the same blessing that we have received in Jesus Christ.  We might draw pleasure and even some happiness from worldly goods and relationships.  But our true and final happiness comes through knowing, like Paul, “Jesus Christ (our) Lord.”

 

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